Ibanez AS73

Arch top, semi-hollow 335-style, all maple body and neck, rosewood fretboard, two ACH humbuckers, tune-o-matic style bridge with an Ibanez revision of the stop tailpiece (same basic thing as the classic, the Ibanez just looks different), ivory binding all everywhere, and a very nice deep transparent cherry finish. The neck feels thinner (both ways) than my Epi Dot, but it's comfortable, and it plays fast. The neck joint is extended as compared to the classic Gibson/Epiphone design, and that could be a good thing. Everything looks to be of good quality. If you compare this to the Epi Dot Studio (same price range), this guitar beats it in every single way.

For a $300 guitar, you'd expect to sacrifice some sound, but this guitar will really surprise you. I have an Epi Dot 335 from the mid 90's (not the clunky, new Dot Studio I mentioned before), so I can compare this guitar to that one. For off-the-body (meaning unplugged) tone, they are quite close. Granted, my Dot has the benefit of age, but this Ibanez can only get better. The Ibanez pushes out generous volume and good sustain (which is aided by its extended neck joint). The ACH pickups are not as good as my Dot's, but to be fair, I put Duncan Alnico Pro II's in my Dot. Those pickups, if you've never used them, are heaven in these type of guitars. That said, these Ibanez pickups are no slouches. They have good clarity; the neck pickup isn't too deep, and the bridge pickup isn't too bright. The middle position is my favorite. They are well-suited for any musical style (as most modern pickups are), but given that this is a semi-hollow guitar, I wouldn't use this for metal. Ibanez has plenty of other options for you if that's your thing.

Out of the box, this is a fine guitar. If you're really picky, you can change the pickups, but no audience will notice the upgrade.

The finish is flawless, and the binding also looks great - and this guitar is made in China! This guitar might change your mind about Chinese-made instruments. I've seen U.S. made guitars with really lousy work, and nothing about this guitar seems cheap or poorly made. The frets don't have sharp ends, and they're all leveled well. The action is good, and after a setup it's perfect. I use .012's with a wound third, and this guitar still plays great.

The only knock against my particular guitar is that the tone control to the neck pickup doesn't seem to be connected. The tone is stuck on 10. I did buy this off the wall of a Guitar Center, so that might not be Ibanez's fault. Anyway, I left it broken (they would have fixed it for free) and took a discount on the guitar. I never use the tone control on the neck pickup; I only use it on the bridge pickup. You'd really only use that tone control if you were trying to get a really dead, flat jazzbox tone. I like to play my jazz with some clarity, so I was happy to just take a discount.

It seems to be built well, and the neck joint especially makes it feel sturdy. I always gig with a backup, but now I can gig with two very nice 335-style guitars.

No experience with them.

If you're looking for a 335, and you can't afford to overpay for a Gibson, look here. The Epiphone Dot (the $500 version) may sound just a bit better (the new Anico V pickups in the Epiphones really sound great), but it's probably not worth the extra $200. If cosmetics are important to you, then the Ibanez will not disappoint. I still prefer my Dot with the Duncans in there, but this guitar will still get plenty of play time. The body on this Ibanez is a little more comfortable. If you're in the market for a semi-hollow guitar, you've got to check out the Ibanez Artcore series. The price is reasonable, and you get a great guitar. Forget about Ibanez's reputation for making only shred-metalhead guitars - they can make a very respectable, versatile semi-hollow as well.

The wood and construction is where this guitar really shines. The laminated maple body is just as good and in some ways better than my Gibson. The neck joint is more level and seamless. It has multiply binding on the body, bound head stock and F holes. For 3 grand you would think that Gibson would offer these accents. I gave an 8 because the hardware and electronics are pretty poor. I didn't score it lower because these things can be fixed. The tuners feel a little loose, but it does stay in tune, so I'm going to keep them for now. Replace the bridge, the electronics and the nut and you'll have an guitar that will rival the ones coming out of the Gibson custom shop (for 1/3 of the price)!. One other thing. I could do without the lightning bolt in the headstock logo. Looks a little cheesy for an otherwise very classy looking instrument.

I'm playing through a Marshall JMP-1 preamp and a Marsall series 9000 power amp. Its a very vintage rack setup. I also have a compressor, an Alesis quadraverb and BBE sonic maximizer in the effects chain. At full volume the tone is absolutley amazing. I'm not saying amazing for a $300 guitar, just plain amazing. The pickups have a good PAF flavor to them. I played it side by side against a Les Paul wired with the Wolftone Vinatge PAF pickups. Of course the Gibson came out ahead in this arena, but considering price - not an extra $2100 worth of better! Others have posted that it gets very muddy at lower volumes and I agree completely. A high pass filter similar to the one in my JS-1000 would help a lot. Considering I use the volume pots to roll of some gain from the preamp, this is a critical flaw, but as I said before, replace the electronics and you'll get blown away.

Out of the factory, the action was terrible and the pickups were too high. 10 minutes on the bench and it was like a whole differnt guitar. I'm not going to give it less than an 8 because the guitar is capable of very low action, they just didn't set it that way when they shipped it. The finish was flawless and the neck was set perfectly. The fret job was ok, but could use some dressing. Very mice job on the binding all the way around.

After the upgrades mentioned above, I would definitely play live with it. In fact, it would probably be my main guitar so I wouldn't get my expensive ones all dinged up. I would never gig without a backup for any of my guitars.

Never had to deal with them.

I'ver been playing for 25 years. From Gibson, I have a Les Paul and a Lucille. From Fender I have a strat and a tele. I also have a Satriani JS-1000. After the upgrades, I would put this up against my Lucille any day of the week. Would absolutely replace it if anything ever happened to it. Love the attention to detail in the construction. Hate the lack of attention to detail in the hardware and electronics. I will give it a 10 in the overall category because it truely is a fantastic value. I've played guitars with triple the price tag and half the tone. Go get one!

A 335 copy. It's blue. Not too sure about the specifics, because as soon as I played this guitar I decided I must own it.

It sounds like a 335! The original pickups were okay, but I switched them out with Semour Duncan Seth Lovers and now this guitar sounds incredible. Lots of sustain and midrange and a warm, round, smooth top end. Very nice! Sounds great with distortion, too! Both pickups are useable. I wouldn't change anything about this guitar's sound. It's great for jazz, rock and blues.

No flaws, pretty good action. I have mine set up with .11 gauge flatwounds.

Frankly, some of the hardware gives this guitar a flimsy feel. Mainly the tuning machines. Other than that, it's quite solid.

I will probably never buy another Ibanez again because the company has been so unhelpful. They never respond to their emails, and I must have sent a dozen. Well, there are lots of other companies out there who DO answer their emails and I think I'll give my money to them from now on.

I've been playing about 10 years, and owned guitars ranging in price from 200 dollars to 2500 dollars. This guitar sounds as good as the best I've played, but the pickups and hardware hold it back. Fortunately you can replace all of that! This guitar is a steal for how cheap it is.

Pretty standard for features.
I got mine from eBay.
Original owner upgraded the pickups with DiMarzio
"Humbuckers From Hell"...also came with a NICE
TKL hardshell case.
Very solid guitar...has some weight to it.

I wanted a 335 style guitar...
Big Scofield fan!
The upgraded pickups sound awesome.
I have heard the original Artcore pickups before.
Not bad...
This guitar rings...plugged or unplugged!
Great for rock, blues, jazz...
Check out some samples:
http://www.myspace.com/vonfacevirtualjazz
Keep in mind, my rating here is with DiMarzios!

Workmanship is VERY good!
This is my 3rd Artcore...
Ibanez really knows how to make a great guitar.
There was some slight "fretting out"...
I put a set of 10's on & raised the action just a bit...
Easy fix.
Another plus: This guitar STAYS IN TUNE!!
I absolutely love it.

Very solid guitar.
No worries here.

I have talked with Ibanez through their web site.
Fast & easy.

Been playing for close to 30 years...
Like I said...this is my 3rd Artcore.
Great guitars.
If stolen, I would get another!

I won't go over all of the features because they're covered in every other review. Transparent cherry red ES-335 copy, maple body with set neck. Two humbucker pickups, two volume, two tone and one 3-way switch.

I like blues and classic rock and this guitar is well suited for both. I play it through a Peavey Valve King with only three pedals. The sound is beautiful. Clear ringing notes, great sustain and it breaks up nicely with a little gain.

The finish is flawless but the hardware and setup left quite a bit to be desired. Two of the six tuning heads were useless so I replaced all six. The bridge screws broke so I replaced it with a Gotoh bridge. The bridge and the tuning heads set me back about $50. The intonation, action and neck were all off a little and it wasn't until recently that I had a proper setup job done. With a proper setup the guitar is absolutely amazing. The action is light and fast and this $350 guitar ($300 plus the $50 for new parts) plays better than any guitar costing twice that much or more. We need a category here to rate guitar techs or shops. Because of the hardware issues I can only give it a 6 out of the box.

The guitar seem to be very solid and well assembled. I've had it for almost a year now and except for the two hardware issues it has been rock solid.

I never called Ibanez regarding the hardware.

Every guitar needs to be set up properly so I can't ding Ibanez for that. The hardware that was faulty was inexpensive and easy to replace. The hardware would have bothered me if I had spent a lot more on the guitar. Given the amount of investment and how well the guitar plays, looks and sounds I have to give it the highest possible marks.

I think the features of the guitar have been covered in spades by other reviewers. All I can say is that it has the essentials of a semi-hollow so I gotta give it a "10"

I A/Bed it against an Epi Dot. I think I liked the Dot pickups a little better but I could live with these for awhile. Better than most stock pups. What makes this guitar better than a Dot or other inexpensive semi is that the body is MUCH more resonant -- almost in the territory of a Casino.

This is where Ibanez kicks everyone's ass. Honest to God, I looked at an ES335 for $1,999 in the store that had rough, unfinished fret ends, sloppy paint around the F holes and binding. This Ibanez was spotless. And so were every other one in the store.

The Dots (and I looked at 3) were, quite frankly, a mess. The very helpful sales guy told me that he preferred the Dot and when he picked one up to show it to me, the bridge pup volume knob fell off.
Hmmm . . .

Action is fine for 0.10s it comes loaded with. I plan to switch to 0.11s. Had to tweak the saddles a little but this is as good as you get out of the box.

The hardwar was really what made the deal for me. I bought this for $150 less than a Dot. I really dont gig so I cant vouch for the gigworthiness of this. But I would imagine this thing is gonna hold up very well.

Can't say.

Been playing for 4 year but I am a geek when it comes to gear. I try to read up a lot on stuff before I purchase.

Would definitly buy it again and again.

Compared to Epi Dot. Ibanez 3:16 - "I jest whupped yer ass."

Tobacco sunburst, dual humbuckers, binding everywhere,top, bottom,f holes,neck and head. As nice as it gets.

Sounds are clean clean clean to dark and very sexy when playing through a Roland Cube,my traveling amp. I am playing clean to distored via an Ibanez TS-9 and a DanElectro DanEcho. I usually like to swap pickups but these humbuckers are allright. The pickups are quiet and the tone settings are very usefull and musical. I like it dirty but it will play clean very nicely with good clear sounds. Like it! you bet,for one this is a very pretty instrument,it feels good while you play and is slick as hell.

Action needs to be set to user preference. I had to set neck relief and to adjust the bridge to minimize a little fret buzz. Every external aspect is superb from the head to the end pin, nothing is sloppy, messy or appears rushed. Beautiful tobacco sunburst finish. The guitar came with 10's and I put 11's on it. The strings were a little sticky in the nut slots but I worked them back and forth and put a little slick stuff into the slots and now the strings slide nicely and it tunes great and holds tune very well. I could not find anything negative about the build of this guitar.

I only play this guitar in the living room. I dont gig or carry it out of the house. That being said it is built solid. This is like a truck. I saw comments about the tuners and I would say that they are acceptable for my needs, if you play professionaly you may want to upgrade. Pickups are a matter of preference and some may desire hotter or warmer units.

Couldn't tell you

Been playing for 40 years. I have purchased several dozen guitars over the years and I currently own Gibson, Fender, Guild and many other brands. I am always looking for tone and this guitar has it. For less than 300 bucks you are able to score one great guitar. It is great just as it comes if you want more go somewhere else and pay through the nose. This is a great guitar for playing acoustically or really rocking out. If it was to go AWOL I would definitly get me another.

I bought this guitar new less than a year ago. Beautiful ES-335 style bound body (no pickguard), in vintage sunburst. Basic features; tone & volume for each pickup. The cable jack is on the side rather than the front as on the 335, which is convenient. 22 frets, bound rosewood fingerboard, and the neck feels very nice (at least compared to my very-fat-maple-necked Strat). Basic generic tuners. Nice pearl dot fingerboard inlay. Everything on it is stock for the AS73. Overall it is a beautiful, extremely well-executed instrument. I would, however, prefer that it had an ES-335 style pickguard. Also, I had to pay extra for a case, and the Guitar Center guy had to take time to find one that it fit into, so I'd also prefer that it came with one.

I play blues, rock, psychedelic blues & rock, a little surf, and some unclassified combinations of all of them. This guitar does extremely nicely on all of these except maybe surf. I play through a Fender Blues Junior from about 1995, American made, stock. The sound is very rich and strong, with extremely well balanced highs and lows, and a strong, punchy middle. The reason this guitar isn't perfect for surf music is that the highs are too well balanced with the lows, and when I'm playing surf music I prefer the highs to be almost excessively prevalent, with lows about two-thirds and middle nonexistent. But what the heck, when I play a surf tune I'll set down the AS73 and pick up my Strat! For rock and blues however, this thing is amazing. The neck pickup is the blander of the two, with more low end and less overall tone, and it sounds a bit jazzy, which I occasionally like on some clean blues applications. The bridge pickup, in my opinion, sounds beautiful. Just the right balance of underlying punch and overlying bright sparkle, with not too much of either. I can get a lot of that nice 60s style brightness out of this pickup by picking close to the bridge, but the brightness always drags some mid-level punch up with it, so the sound can never fully degenerate into a Captain Beefheart style pure twang. Either way, this guitar isn't made for "twang" like a Telecaster, but rather for "sparkle," like an ES-335. My Strat is more to the twangy end (with a great Hendrix-style throaty punch), so this AS73 balances that well. It has perfect strength and fullness for anything from Chuck Berry to Jefferson Airplane. Some of my band's songs have really strong, psychedelic, chord-based riffs with plenty of wah-wah. This guitar sounds absolutely beautiful for heavy chords. The sound is beautifully heavy in the Gibson humbucker style, with plenty of sustain (not a HUGE amount, though). Great clean through my Fender amp, with a nice vintage-50s blues style tone, and distortion is wonderful, and brings out the real strength and punch of the pickups. Soloing brings out a lot of strength in the lower ends backing up a pretty chimey-ness to the very-highs that is reminiscent of 1960s psychedelic rock & blues solos, for example, Jerry Garcia's work on the Grateful Dead's 1967 debut (which I believe was done with an SG). Overall the three words that come to mind when I play this guitar are strong, full and balanced. Maybe not the best choice for extreme-treble or extreme-bass situations, but absolutely beautiful, rich, full, powerful tone. For 300 dollars, I'd say the sound is worth about 800.

I haven't changed anything on this guitar since I bought it. It felt wonderful from the second I picked it up in the store, and it still does. The action was perfect. Nothing was wrong with it at all when I got it home. The finish is a beautiful brown sunburst, and the wood grain beneath is very nice. Both the body and the fingerboard are bound, which is very nice. Chrome finished pickups and black knobs look very nice. This guitar feels solid and well-built when playing, and the controls feel firm and durable. I've tried out $2000 brand-new ES-335s that feel almost like you have to tone down your playing so you don't accidentally snap the neck off, but this $300 Ibanez feels almost as solid and tough as a solidbody. I don't have any reservations about playing as hard and fast as I can, and it feels good to do so on this guitar.

Everything on this guitar is as solid-feeling as a fist-sized rock. There's no give or leeway in any part, it all fits together perfectly, and it feels like it would last a long time. I would absolutely use this guitar on a gig without a backup, if I didn't use multiple guitars anyway. Strap buttons are as trustworthy as any I've ever seen. As I said under the above category, I've played expensive Gibson semi-solids which felt almost as if they might fall apart. This guitar feels like I could play it at home, at practice, and at gigs for at least a few years and a few knocks before any issues. Again, it feels as strong as a solidbody. Also, I've found that this guitar tends to stay in tune almost as long as my strings last, which is longer than any other guitar I've owned or tried. I definitely trust this guitar.

I paid for a 12 month warranty (24 was the other choice). Apparently, it's a full warranty, covering anything that could happen to it. I have yet to need it.

I don't have huge amounts of money, so this guitar is an absolute miracle for me at only $300. I've been playing for a few years, mostly with a custom-built Strat copy that I bought from my uncle for $600. That one has Kent Armstrong Vintage Strat Pickups, locking tuners, 5-way switch with pull-up pot for "neck on," which allows all 7 combinations of the 3 pickups, sounds like Hendrix or Clapton, and looks identical to Clapton's Blackie. Being used to that, the AS73 is perfect. It fills in all the gaps in sound where the Strat was too twangy, too throaty, not heavy enough, or anything else. The Strat can still do things the AS73 can't do, but the AS73 is simply a wonderful guitar overall for rock and blues. I bought this guitar from Guitar Center in Hollywood, CA. Before buying this guitar, I took the opportunity to play some of the stores extremely expensive vintage guitars, including a $30,000 '61 SG, a $40,000 '62 Strat, a $40,000 '59 ES-335 and others, all through a 1960 Fender Amp. Even after playing these exquisite vintage instruments, which amounted to a who's who of electric guitar royalty, the $300 Ibanez AS73 still felt and sounded very nice to me, and simply felt "right" in my hands. I love it, and would definitely replace it if it were lost or stolen. The only drawbacks are that it has no pickguard, which I'd prefer it did, and it didn't come with a case. Other than that, this guitar is essentially a $1000+ guitar for only $300.

Basic no-nonsense but TASTY features. Flawless finish. I am lucky enough to have purchased one of the last natural maple production models, the AS-73NT, which came with gold hardward all around instead of the chrome. Because of tuning difficulties with an AS-73TCR (cherry finish), I returned the axe to Washington Music Center and they did an in-kind swap for the natural. They even knocked off $60 for the inconvenience! I'm not going to bore you by going into the features details. Let's just say it's flawless all around--I played and learned to love Ibanez basses and now adore their Artcore series.

A very critical relative--my mom, who was married to a professional musician who recorded with a lot of big-name jazz pros--said that I get a better sound from the gold-hardware natural AS-73 than the transparent cherry version. She said the intonation is definitely better...she thought the middle tones were very similar--I'm plugged into a Peavey 100W Valveking--to Joe Pass and Pat Metheny...exactly the sounds I was aiming for. I dialed up moderate distortion and played an exact duplicate of Santana's intro to Black Magic Woman. I would love to find something to criticize, I'm trying, but I can't find one. I'd love to say something about the pickups being crappy, but Ibanez even got this right--I've considered replacing the pickups but don't hear any reason to at the moment.

I can only find complimentary things to say about the finish. I've owned the guitar for more than 90 days now and still can't find anything flawed in the finish. The action is right on for my purposes. There are no misjoined parts, in fact it's hard to distinguish where the headstock joins into the neck. This may be the only strange appearance on the guitar, that the back of neck is mahogany colored while the guitar is a creamy French-vanilla maple. I'm glad it's mahogany because the sustain is incredible.

I have yet to gig with the guitar, but I have indeed put the strings/bridge through a torture test and it stays in tune. The only string I find myself tuning on a daily basis is G, and it's very minimal. Never had to touch the others after 60 days of ownership. Yes, the guitar feels rock-solid, pardon the pun, and I would comfortably use it as a primary guitar or even--maybe more importantly--as a day-to-day practice/studio instrument. Maple and mahogany are extremely strong hardwoods but are light enough that you don't get back problems.

Haven't had the need to contact them.

I've been playing (off and on) alternately as a pro and hobbyist for 30 years. Other than this guitar, I own a Gretsch G5120. Peavey Valveking 100W 212, fretless Fender J bass and Fender bass amp. Yes, if it were lost or stolen I would buy one again, but I think since I know so much more about Ibanez Artcores, I'd buy her sister, the AS-103NT.

A trans-cherry semi-hollow(ES335 copy) body guitar. The finish looks great, more of a walnut color with a hint of cherry. The tuners are pretty good(much better than my Gibson Gary Moore Signature Les Paul). 2 Humbucker pickups with 2 volume and 2 tone controls. Body is made of maple I believe, and the neck is mahogany.

I play mostly straight up rock music through a Line 6 PODXT Live into a Tube Works TD-752 1x12 combo amp. The sound from the pickups is pretty good for a guitar at this price, definitely not the best out there but they are good. The tone controls don't vary the sound too much, but they do well enough. Good sustain clean or distorted, not a Les Paul but it hold it's own.

Finish is beautiful, it came setup pretty good from the factory, but I set up the intonation, action, and pickup height for my personal taste(I do this on every guitar I own). I can't believe I paid 2 grand for a Les Paul when this guitar was only $350 and it looks just as good if not better!

I have no doubt that this guitar will hold up over the years. I haven't played out with it yet, but I'm sure it will do fine. I would bring a backup guitar no matter what I was playing.

Never had to deal with Ibanez, and hopefully I won't have to.

I've been playing for 15 years, and this is a great guitar for a beginner or veteran. You can't beat it at this price, trust me I've played a bunch of guitars over the years, and this one is up there with the best. If it was stolen I would cry then buy another one ASAP.